Forums >Health and Nutrition>Son suddenly having health issues while running
Hello everyone, ran across this forum while trying to find how to help my son. My son is 17 and started out having a fantastic season in HS Cross Country. He was doing well in both practices and competitions finishing near the top and feeling good before, during and after all his runs. Then suddenly about 2 weeks ago something changed drastically.
Now he cant run a mile without being exhausted and feeling really nauseous. Says when he starts out, he already feels like he has run 8-10 miles. His legs are already heavy in the first few minutes of his run. The oddest thing is that even though he eats a small snack an hour before he runs, the moment he starts running he feels full...like he just ate an entire meal. This passes in the first few minutes of his run but then instead he says he feels like he is starving and has no energy. His speed and endurance have completely disappeared.
We have done multiple blood tests, we have checked iron, mono, ferritin, thyroid, gluclose, and several things I didnt recognize.
Nothing in his diet, routine or otherwise health has changed. He typically feels fine except for these issues when he runs. He is rarely sick.
His coaches, teamates and doctors are baffled. Im posting this hear hoping someone has experience with symptoms like this and can give me some ideas on what to do. Any input is welcome. Thank you so much (in advance).
Have the doctors checked for heart irregularities, like a murmur?
It's also not uncommon for it to be psychological, and completely unconscious to your son. If he's been doing very well and there is a chance he could be winning races or achieving at a high level, he might be subconsciously generating stress at levels that affect his physiological abilities. It's far more likely a physiological thing, but it's something to consider if everything physical is a dead end. School just started, did the symptoms begin at about the time classes did?
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
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Sure sounds like a classic case of over training and hitting his work outs too hard and cranking vs a steady progression. Do you feel like your son has a mentality of hitting hard even on easy running days? Are any others on team having similar problems? It may be something else health wise, but all too often across the country, coaches beat their athletes into the ground or athletes don't listen to their coaches. Rest and recovery and smart training is the key to progression and long term success and if missing, the athletes fitness will regress as season goes on and in some cases drastically. Not sure how much season is left or if it can be salvaged but I would probably tell him not to run for a week. Take a couple easy bike rides and start back up with easier pace runs with some striders. He may bounce back.
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Old , Ugly and slow
How much sleep is he getting?
has he been running for a long time or just a few months
has he lost any weight?
i agree with taking a week off and rest including
sleeping a lot
first race sept 1977 last race sept 2007
2019 goals 1000 miles , 190 pounds , deadlift 400 touch my toes
besides some ailment, there's only one thing that can shut a guy down like that, so quickly and so completely. But it's an obvious one so i would be surprised if you haven't already ruled it out: Hydration.
Yup, if a runner either starts out or develops hydration issues, we're talking shut-down time.
And the mention of nauseousness is spot on, too becuase as the runner heats up, fluids are robbed from the core to cool the extremeties and the gut's ability to digest it's contents is adversely affected.
Simply make sure he's drinking fluids throughout the day leading up to practice. A goal might be a couple of leaders during the day.
Just thought i would throw that out there since it is so critical, and is a simple one to rule out with a little discipline and follow-through.
One day at a time
To second Surly Bill, you might want to have him talk to a counselor. My son was one of the top distance runners in our state in high school and started having odd physical symptoms. We took him to many doctors, chiropractors, and physical therapists. In his case, he developed a severe mental illness the following year and recently told us he thinks those symptoms were all in his head (we had already figured that out but it was encouraging to see him realize it). I'm not suggesting your son's case is that severe, but it might be worth ruling out psychological issues as a cause. I wish someone had given us this advice in 2009.
runktrun
A lot of good suggestions. I'll add that as you pursue each option, be mindful of not changing too many variables all at once. Otherwise, you might not be able to ferret out the primary issue.
Also worth getting the actual values from various blood tests and looking at where they fall in the normal range. What may be normal for a moderately active adult may not be adequate for a competitive runner. e.g. a ferritin value of 20 is technically in range (12 is anemic), but less than ideal for a runner. Same thing with thyroid (TSH). 5.0 is the upper end of normal (depending on the lab and your doc), but may be one point in time of what is an upward trend of TSH. So worth retesting these things in a few weeks regardless of how he feels to start to establish some baseline numbers.
Other ideas: food allergies? environmental allergens (pollen, dust at home, etc)? slight chronic energy deficit in his diet, whether intentional or not? (when in doubt, eat more)
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
Lots of good avenues to look into!
My kid just developed some sort of head cold, so there may be something going around, even Fall related allergies.
The over-training does seem to fit, for a teen, 4-5 days off from any hard runs should take care of that. Only SLOW runs of 3 miles or less. By SLOW, I mean like 10 minute pace or slower. Lack of adequate recovery would lead to the symptoms described.
I find this case interesting, but not too uncommon among teen athletes.
I am a pediatrician (and life-long endurance athlete) and I see this often.
Perhaps if you could post his bloodwork, typical daily diet, sleep, and training habits, I could give an opinion.
WOW! Thank you so much everyone. I will collect all those test results and post them all here for you to evaluate. Eli has been keeping a journal so I will try to summarize that as well. Hopefully today. Thank you again everyone!
Here's what we have so far...
We have been to two doctors this week (neither is a runner or athlete). The first dr. ran several tests at our requests and this is what came back (non-fasting):
Mono. screen-walk: negative
Ferritin: 27
Thyroid Stimulation Hormone: 1.730
Iron: 79
UIBC: 235
TIBC: 314
% Satuation: 25
Sodium 140
Potassium 4.4
Chloride 100
CO2: 29
Glucose 70
Urea Nitrogen 13
Creatinine: 1.0
Calcium 10.0
Total Protein 6.9
Albumin: 5.5
AST: 24
ALT: 21
Alkaline Phosphatase: 75
Total Bilirubin .3
....and another page of results that seem to be mostly hieroglyphics
The first Dr. looked over the results and said everything was normal. We expressed our concern that the Ferritin was pretty low, especially for a young guy running a lot. He disagreed, said "...27 was still safely in the normal range".
Went to 2nd Dr. He listened to Eli's symptoms and immediately diagnosed him as Hypoglycemic. He prescribed glucose tablets. , We told him we were concerned about iron/Ferretin seeming low. He also disagreed, said he wasnt concerned about that especially since Hemoglobin, etc. was also in normal ranges. And Ferritin fluctuates so much it is unreliable anyway."
Eli left the Dr. appt and went to practice, took some "Triberry Gu" and felt a lot better. We thought we had surely solved the problem. This morning he competed again (Cross Country 5k) and had to drop out after 2.3 miles...2 weeks ago he could run 8-9 miles without any ill effects.
He sleeps generally 7-8 hrs/nite. Seems to have little anxiety. Really dont see this being mental, thought Im sure that can be complicating whatever else is going on. Loves running and has always done very well up until 2 weeks ago.
Diet has not changed. Eats very healthy, Red meat is prob. 2x/week. Increasing that now. Eats a lot of chicken, vegetables, A LOT of pasta, potatoes, bread, fruit 2x/day, and actually eats a fair amount of ice cream and desserts Usually has banana / peanut butter smoothie and muffin for breakfast. 1 Flintstones vit. each day.
Only drinks water and lots of it. Drinks roughly 60-80 oz each day.
Wearing same running shoes he started the season with (season is 1/2 over), about 4 meets left.
After getting home today I learned he did NOT take his glucose tablet (that 2nd Dr. prescribed), he instead took the "Gu" 5 min. before the race and some gummies during the race (once he realized he was starting to crash again). The coach saw him really struggling after 2 miles and made him stop the race. He mistakenly thought the Gu was the same as taking the glucose tablets the Doc. gave him. That was a mistake 30 min. before today's race he also at a granola bar.
Eli pointed out that every time this has happened he feels 100% better about 5 minutes after he stops running. He feels like he never ran at all, even though 5 min. earlier he couldnt take another step.
When running he says his legs are really heavy, felt like vomiting only 2 minutes in (but never has).
No dizziness, no hunger during the run this time (thats a 1st in 2 weeks, thats been a major complaint of his since this problem started), has never felt light headed or like he was going to pass out (and never has). Only total exhaustion.
------------
We have not checked for heart murmurs but will try to do that on our next dr. visit (hopefully this week)
Breathing hasnt been an issue. He has no shortness of breath, etc. He said it is strictly a loss of all energy in his legs. He said his arms, etc. feel fine. Its strictly his legs/feet.
School has been in session for about 6-7 weeks. No problems with classes, grades or (unfortunately) girls.
He pushes himself hard but typically stays with pack during training and respects/listens to his coach. His coaches are a (Fantastic) husband/wife team who are both lifelong distance runners. We couldnt ask for better coaches, they are truly amazing. They are at loss for how to help with this, but continually call/text him for updates over the weekends, after meets/practices and during training.
He ran track last year for the 1st time (400m & 800m), did well enough to go to State He is now in his first year of Cross Country so is definitely still learning.
At the two Dr. visits we have learned he has lost about 3 lbs total (over a 5 day period). He is 5"11' and now weighs 143. Has always been in excellent health with the exception of seasonal allergies and migraines.
Daily Training is usually 5-6 miles, about 40 minutes usually plus cool downs and warm ups.
Thats all I can think of for now....
Lots of good suggestions.
Let me throw out an extremely unlikely diagnosis: myasthenia gravis.
l also seem to recall a female HS XC runner who experienced numbness in her legs with running, from MS - but it didn't slow her down or stop her from running.
I would look at the lower sugar more.
I was a 6 foot 140 17 year who ate like a pig.
Hypoglycemia makes sense.
In HS, there was a rival from another school that had hypoglycemia, and if he didn't have his food on time before a race he did AWFUL compared to what he normally ran, like 30-40 seconds slower for a 1500m.
Explore that hypoglycemia angle a bit.
Hypoglycemia based on these labs does NOT make sense.
Often CMP bloods sit for a while causing glucose to be artificially lower.
Anyway, 70 does not qualify as hypoglycemic.
If you really want to see this, get an OTC glucose monitor (very inexpensive) and take a reading right after a race.
If < 60 then he is having issues. If not, can rule this out.
That being said, I have trouble with runners slugging Gu and gummies for a 5k race. Should be able to easily run on empty.
Heart murmur causing symptoms extremely unlikely and I wouldn't waste my insurance dollars on an echo.
If he is feeling palpitations during his running, at least a baseline/stress EKG would be much more valuable.
Myesthemia Gravis so rare and not seen in young people
Ferritin can be an acute phase reactant, so I don't really look to hard at this.
Other values really don't argue for anemia.
Most concerning is the weight loss.
I was was advising this family, I'd have him take a week off running, eat well, focusing on good high-quality fats, complex carbs, and adequate protein. Sleep 9+ hrs a night.
I think this really could be overtraining.